The Women’s Premier League T20 is the female counterpart of the Indian Premier League. The tournament is controlled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The tournament is played between franchise teams. Franchise owners and members purchase players based on an auction within the purse amount that is given to them. The current franchise teams are Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and UP Warriors.
Each team is allowed to have five players in their playing XI of which one has to be from an associate nation. In their squad of 15 to 18 players, a team can have six overseas players.
Each team then plays the other in a double round-robin format in a home-and-away format. Teams are awarded two points for a win, one point for a shared result, and zero points for a loss. The top three teams at the end of league stage qualify for the playoffs. The table toppers directly proceed to the finals. The teams placed second and third play an eliminator for the final berth.
A notable difference between the men’s and women’s edition of the tournament is in terms of field restrictions. In the women’s game, the inner ring is placed at 25 yards instead of 30 yards as seen in the men’s game. Moreover, after the completion of powerplay no more than four fielders are allowed outside the inner circle, compared to five fielders as seen in the men’s game.
Rules pertaining to powerplay, strategic timeout, decision review system, number of overs per bowler, and super over remain the same as seen in the men’s version of the Indian Premier League.
The leading run-scorers is presented the orange cap whereas the leading wicket-taker gets the purple cap. The inaugural season was won by Mumbai Indians with Meg Lanning and Hayley Mathews being the leading run-scorers and wicket-takers respectively.
